DU’s latest recruit further guides the program towards an all-American roster

Posted By Mike Chambers On June 29, 2011 @ 12:30 pm In University of Denver | 1 Comment

With the recent commitment from forward Landon Smith of Greenwood Village, the DU hockey team continued its trend towards building towards an All-American roster. Smith, who last season played for the Colorado Thunderbirds’ midget-major (U18) team, is the 13th known American commitment among the 15 players pegged to join the Pioneers this fall, 2012 or 2013 – and the latest to join the burgeoning list of Front Range kids headed to DU, CC or AFA on scholarship (or appointment).

DU had just four Canadians on its roster last season, and will have just three this coming campaign (sophomore goalie Sam Brittain, junior forward Shawn Ostrow and freshman defenseman Joey LaLeggia). As we wrote in a cover story last season, DU’s roster used to be dominated by western Canadians, but it is now littered with Americans from places outside traditional hotbeds of Minnesota and Michigan.

Smith, meanwhile, will spend his upcoming senior season in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, playing for the USHL’s RoughRiders, and the captain of the Thunderbirds’ 2010 midget-minor (U16) national champions is pegged to join DU in 2013, after two years of junior-A. But that’s just the tentative plan. A similar one was presented to defenseman Josiah Didier of Littleton, the co-captain of the T-Birds’ U16 national champions, but he is coming in this fall, as a true freshman and after just one year of junior-A.

Here is a list of the Pioneers’ 15 known signees or committed players and where they were born/raised: